Hell
by ArtemisRoseShadow
Summary: This was hell. This was insanity. This was love.


A/N: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

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After months of being imprisoned, I had finally escaped that hell. I returned to the sands of Kuru Eneru, only to find ruins, and everyone dead. I found myself entering one whole new hell, after discovering that the Pharoah did this to my home. I spent most of my days hiding in sandy dugouts filled with scorpions and broken glass. I'm suprised I haven't died from infection yet, or blood loss. Atem's guards were on the lookout for me. They're quick, but I'm much faster. How many days have passed by, running from the Pharoah's servants? How many nights? I lost count after 28.

One day, while walking through my abandoned village, hiding from the guards, a boy found me. Not much older then myself, he had dirty blonde hair that spiked in every direction and deep tanned skin. His amethyst eyes made him seem alien, but the hieroglyphics carved into his back told otherwise. He told me his name was Malik, another name strange to me. He never smiled, only smirked. And grimaced. Much like myself. We both had nothing to smile for.

We became friends, or as close to the meaning of the word as I knew. I stole food for him, and he kept me warm at night. It was a nice trade. Both of us were lonely, and the fact that both of us were boys didn't shake us. Malik hated the Pharoah as well. For what reason, he never spoke. But I told him everything. I told him of how the Pharoah sent his army to burn my village, to , claiming that it was what Ra wanted. But I knew the truth. Atem was just angry that I raided his father's tomb, destroying everything, and he knew that The Village Of Theives was my closest place to home. He killed my whole family, in front of me. I was the only one who got away, and I had no more friends. Not until Malik.

I knew the hieroglyphics on Malik's back had something to do with his hatred for Atem, but there was never an opening to glimpse at them. He kept them carefully hidden. Besides, I couldn't read. So it didn't really matter. I could not write, either, and Malik strived to teach me these skills. I came to idol Malik, even if I didn't admit it to myself. I only just realized this, after a millenia of being kept inside the Sennen Ring.

I stole the Sennen Ring from the Atem's father -- Akunadin -- stole it directly from his corpse. I was dying inside, slowly, gently ... and only Malik knew this. He tried to help me, to give me friendship, kindness, and someone to call my own. But it didn't help. He would never really be mine, I thought.

How stupid I was.

The truth is, Malik was mine, before I even knew him. He had been watching me, for as long as at least 3 years, observing me and how my mind worked. Once he saw I was dying, he decided to intervene. I did not know this until after he was dead.

The Pharoah had killed him. Right in front of my eyes. I was in front of Atem, forced on my knees by one of his guards, made to face the Pharoah. Atem had Malik by the wrists pinned behind him with one hand, a dagger in the other. Malik was always very strong. But the Pharoah was stronger. He slit Malik's throat with one quick swipe, dropping his limp body carelessly to the ground ... before stepping on his beautifully tanned face. That was when I lost it, when my mind became truly broken.

He didn't kill me. Why, I did not know. Probably because I escaped before he had the chance. But everyone was looking for me, and I was easy to spot. I was smaller then the average male, much thinner, much lighter ... but that's not why I was easy to see. It was my hair. My bright, white hair with light shades of violet hidden within the strands. I proposed the idea of dying my hair to Malik, dying it black, but he refused vehemently. Malik always loved my hair, and he never wanted it dyed. I respected his wishes, even after his death. No matter how dangerous it was.

My eyes had crimson irises, much like Malik's had light purple. I never knew why, and neither did he. We never really questioned it, instead just accepting that we were both different. Malik and I knew we were from Egypt, even though we didn't look it. But, we started to consider eachother something above humans, above the average man.

I thought of Malik as a God, and he saw me as a God, too.

I don't know why I remember all this, taking it moment by moment only after Malik died in front of me. I never realized what I had, until it was gone. Despite the lying, stealing, cheating ... I was happy. I was only happy with Malik. We laughed, cried, loved, and learned. Until he passed on, and I lost my mind. I literally went insane with fury. After escaping from the Pharoah's palace, I was caught once again and brought to him. Yet, he didn't kill me right away, as I thought he would.

He did something much, much worse.

Atem kept me chained in the lower corridors, by myself. I lost the feeling in my wrists a few days after being there, from the shackles that bound me. And from trying to claw at my veins in a futile attempt to release myself from this prison I called life. But the Pharoah didn't want me dead just yet, so golden clamp bracelets were placed on my arms to keep me from reaching my veins. Unfortunatly, it worked.

The Pharoah would come down and visit me many times a day, much to my dismay. He would just sit there, in front of me, and _talk_. Oh, how I wanted to when he talked. Atem, after burning my village, killing my family, reducing me to a petty theif, then killing my lover _right before my eyes_, had the nerve to _talk _to me. I think he wanted me to contribute to the conversations, but I never did. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of hearing me respond to his outrageous requests and questions. I wouldn't stoop that low, not yet.

He talked of his travels, and then asked me what I have seen through my years. He talked of the injustice he has righted, and the immoral deeds of others that he rightfully punished. Then, he would ask me if I knew the depth of _my _crimes, and the consequences that would follow. I never responded, only looking at him straight in the eyes and imaginning the feel of his blood dripping in my hands. It was how I distracted myself, I guess. I thought of different, insane and inhumane ways of murdering Atem. Every single one was amusing to me. But, then again, the spiders in the corner were also very amusing.

Then I started to hallucenate.

At least, I think they were hallucenations. I would be sitting there, chained to the wall, just biding my time, when I would see it. When I would see _him_. Malik, that image of perfection that had graced me with his presence over the years, stood before me. I felt unworthy, undeserving of the sight of him after I had let him die in the hands of the Pharoah. That was when I realized that I had fallen in love with him. Fallen in love with Malik. For the thing I wanted most of all, above all else, was him. I just wanted to see him again, look into his eyes, feel his arms around me, and feel his skin against mine. I figured out what love was, but only after I had lost it. After I had lost Malik.

Eventually, the Pharoah decided to be rid of me. I had begged, literally begged, for him to take my life, so I could be with Malik once again. Atem thought it was funny, the way that all I could think about was Malik. I had finally started to respond to his constant questioning, but all I would speak of was my lover, Malik. And how the Pharoah was an ungrateful rat for ending our love so soon. Oh, and he would laugh! Laugh at the thought of him, at the memory of him. Whenever he did this I spit in his face, cursing his name to the heavens. Everytime I did this, I would be punished, starved of food until Atem saw fit.

But he didn't kill me.

Instead, he bound my soul to the Sennen Ring, the same pendant I stole from Akunadin. He banished my essence from life and into the golden trinket, forever trapped in the Ring, forever lost in the sands of Egypt. Or that's what was supposed to happen.

All I did while in the Sennen Ring was think. Think about Malik. Think about the Pharoah. Think about killing him, for declining my request to die and reunite with Malik, my love, once again. I decided that this was much, much worse than death. I had no body of my own, I could not move nor call out for someone to save me.

And so, I stayed within the Sennen Ring for over a millenia, buried in a mockery of a tomb next to even more thieves. They were the lucky ones. They were actually dead. I was just a memory, an imprint of a departed soul. I was nothing.

But then, on an excavation of the tombs of Egypt, a man found the Sennen Ring. I do not know who he was, for I was not aware of this at the time. Since I was bound to the Ring, I had no awareness to anything that happened around me. I just assumed that the Pharoah had thrown the Ring out, hoping to be rid of me forever. I guessed that the man took the Sennen Ring to Domino, Japan, for that is where it happened.

That is where I was born again.

The first thing I felt was a warm glow surrounding me, which was odd because I hadn't been able to feel anything in a very, very long time. The next thing I knew, was that I was looking out at a small, alien room with painted blue walls and matching blue carpets. A mirror image of myself stared back at me, except ... it wasn't me. I don't know how to explain it. My facial features were still the same, except the scar that I had over my right eye had dissappeared. My skin was ghostly pale, and my hair had no more hints of violet in it, only white. My clothes were of an odd nature, I have no clue where they came from. Were they foreign? I was very confused. The only thing I recognized was the Sennen Ring around my neck.

And as fast as it all came, it was all gone. I was trapped once again, but this time ... I was not alone. Someone else was with me, someone named Bakura Ryou. He was the owner of the body I had just seen, he was the one wearing the Sennen Ring. Not me. And still, all I could think about was Malik.

But this time it was different. I found out that I was able to possess the body of Bakura Ryou, taking over his mind and taking in the information of this new and unknown place. It was not Egypt, nor was it anything like Egypt. This Bakura Ryou had almost no friends, only aquaintances and enemies. Or people who didn't care. I was able to relate to him, although I never dared to let him have the slightest inkling that he had someone else inside his mind, another personality taking over him via the Sennen Ring that was a gift from his father from Egypt. I grew attatched to this boy, even though he didn't know me. I found myself wanting to murder the ones who made fun of him, the ones who beat him up.

And eventually, I did.

I discovered that I was able to do things when I possesed Ryou. Unnatural things. Magical things. Whenever I walked under the streetlights at night, they would flicker, and sometimes turn off. Or explode. It was more amusing when they exploded. And, one day, the Sennen Ring's golden spikes lifted and pointed to my left, glowing. Bemuddled, I followed the direction it pointed me in. I found myself in an alleyway, and was soon cornered by a group of large teenage men, one with a small, closable dagger in his hand. They spoke to me as if they knew me, and I soon realized that they knew me as Bakura Ryou, the weak boy whom I had recently started sharing a body with. This was when I discovered another power I had.

I could turn people into small, tiny replicas of themselves, without the ability to speak or move or feel, much like I was like when I was trapped inside the Sennen Ring.

Some people would call them dolls. I guess that's the modern word, I could only remember Egyptian words until I merged with Bakura Ryou, so now I know two more languages. Japanese and English. But some people saw the difference between Bakura Ryou and I, sometimes I would forget words and start speaking Egyptian once again. Though, they shrugged this off as a quirk of Bakura Ryou's.

Bakura Ryou entered himself in a tournament. Duel Monsters, they called it. It seemed oddly familiar to me. I leanred to play this game with exceeding skill, practicing in my mind while Bakura Ryou was in possession of his body. This tournament took place on an island, and whoever one was able to duel against the creator of the game, Maximillion Pegasus.

This was where I saw the Pharoah.

He was trapped inside the Sennen Puzzle, another Egyptian artifact from our time. He had no memory of Egypt, but that didn't stop me from hating him with a firey passion. His host, Motou Yugi, won the tournament, though Bakura Ryou and I were close.

Bakura Ryou kept entering himself in tournaments, the same ones that Motou Yugi and the Pharoah entered. But it seemed that Motou Yugi was aware of the other being inside his mind, and did not mind. They had become _friends_. I couldn't stand it. He has always had a perfect life, hasn't he?

One of these tournaments took place on a blimp, owned by a man named Kaiba Seto, who strongly resembled a high priest that I recalled from Egypt. This thought quickly dissappeared when I saw someone else, though. When I saw _him_.

Malik.

And that's when all of these memories hit me in full force. When I saw him walking towards Bakura Ryou, I quickly took over and ran to him, embracing him tightly and talking of how I missed him, kissing him senseless, not realizing that I was speaking a dead Egyptian language. I did not care how he had survived, all I cared about was that _he was back_. Alive. Real.

But he did not remember me. He was a reincarnation, with no memories of me, ancient Egypt, or our love.

And I went insane all over again.

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Yay!


End file.
